THE EFFECT OF COACHING AND PLAYER POSITION ON HEAD IMPACT EXPOSURE IN YOUTH FOOTBALL PLAYERS

Youth football players comprise almost 70% of the football playing population, and the ongoing development of these athletes makes the understanding of concussions and repetitive head impact exposure in this population of particular concern. The objective of this study was to determine how player position and coaching influence head impact exposure in youth football players while controlling for player age. This analysis focused on a cohort of 45 youth football players between the ages of 9 and 14 that had helmets instrumented with accelerometer arrays for at least two seasons. A repeated measures, mixed model was used to assess the effect of coach and position on impacts per session, 95^th percentile linear acceleration, and 95^th percentile rotational head acceleration. Head impact exposure was also modeled in aggregate and for practices and games independently. Player position and coach were observed to be significant factors related to head impact exposure. These data highlight the important role that coaches have in managing head impact exposure for teams they lead.